[@Hank] One Steelpike was ordered, and a Steelpike you shall have.


[hider="Steelpike" Roland Corvo]
[b]Name:[/b] "Steelpike" Roland Corvo
[b]Age:[/b] 21
[b]Gender:[/b] Male
[b]Race:[/b] Imperial
[b]Birthsign:[/b] The Steed

[b]Appearance:[/b] Roland is a young man, and tall for a Imperial, about 185 centimetres or about six feet. He is a sinewy man, who is quick and agile, but is not a brawny or muscular man at all, and there are stronger men than him. For his services during the Civil War and in the Imperial Legion, he has gained more than just a few scars. Roland has long, dark brown hair, bordering almost black at times, and clear green eyes, that have a spark of determination and will. His face is kept clean shaven meticulously. He could be considered a handsome man, if he smiled more with his thin mouth.

[b]Biography:[/b] Roland was born into the Corvo family on 29th of Midyear, 181 Fourth Era.  The members of the Corvo family have served in the Imperial Legion as officers and soldiers for generations. His father Marcus, for example, fought against the Aldmeri Dominion in the Great War. As such, Roland has always wanted to distinguish himself in the Legion. Roland lived most of his childhood and teenage years in Cyrodiil, often moving from town to town, as his father was assigned to different towns to act as an inspector and instructor for Legion's troops in Cyrodiilic garrisons.

Roland learned how to use a sword and other weapons while still being a child. Often, he would just use a stick or a wooden sword and fight with his friends, siblings and cousins. As the eldest son of the flock of six children, he was often given the best education, but Roland has always looked after his younger siblings.

Roland grew up into an ambitious young man, who took service to the Empire seriously and saw life in the military as a prestigious one. As he turned eighteen, Roland joined the Imperial Legion as a footman, starting as a swordsman. Proving himself as a competent and aggressive duellist and a handsome young man, Roland became a poster boy, so to speak, for the Legion for a while during his training, as he excelled as a soldier and came from a military family. Two of his younger brothers also joined the Legion as scribes.

He gained some fame before the Skyrim's Civil War, and he rose quickly to the officer ranks just before the war's beginning, he was given the command of a cohort of heavy footmen. His commanding officer would turn out to be Hector Sibassius.

Roland had heard a few rumours and whispers of Hector from some older men of the Legion, but not many concrete facts. Roland soon was acquainted with the man himself, and served as one of his junior staff members throughout the war, helping him pacifying Skyrim's countryside. Roland's cohort of swordsmen often broke the back of Stormcloak resistance in any battle and often took the heaviest losses. Often clad in steel and taller than most Imperials, he gained the nickname "Steelpike" from his fellow soldiers.

Roland often volunteered to take his men into the fray if needed and led them from the front. The unit shared a tight bond and certain feel of entitlement forged in the many battles. They saw themselves as the best unit in the whole Legion, which, of course, could be always argued by other units.

One day, though, Roland's Raiders, as his cohort was known, was attacked by a brown-scaled dragon while on the march. The attack lasted only a couple minutes, but it left the cohort devastated and decimated. Out of the dozens of men under Roland's command, only a handful survived, and the dragon was hardly hurt at all, vanishing as fast as it had attacked. The Raiders lost most of veteran soldiers, who had been serving ever since the beginning of the war and beyond.

The attack left Roland mentally shaken and embittered, and tried to serve the same way as he had before the dragon attack, but something had changed. He had become more short tempered and angry, often snapping at people. Some of his comrades would say that he had lost his edge in the dragon attack, and they would be right. After seeing his men and friends dying a fiery death, Roland was devastated emotionally.

Roland was recovering in a field hospital during the battle of Windhelm. After the Stormcloaks were defeated, Roland was assigned to the Imperial garrison of Solitude as an instructor.

By the summer of 202, 4E, Roland has been instructing new recruits, both Imperials and Nords, although his current commanding officer has taken a dislike on his attitude for some reason, racking a few warnings from his superiors. It might be soon that his officer's commission is withdrawn.

[b]Personality:[/b] What is duty? To fulfill the norms of the society? To serve a country? To bring honour to your family, and not to disgrace your name? Roland has pondered these questions lately, as he has continued serving the Empire in the Legions. Never has he been an academic or a philosopher, but recently Roland has started to ponder the wider meaning of life. Why did he survive, but many others perished? What will be left of him after he is gone?

Words like service, duty and the Empire were drilled to his mind by his father Marcus, but in the end, was it Roland's fate or duty to become a corpse in Skyrim, in the name of the Emperor? Has it come the time to lay down the dutiful role of a son, a soldier, a leader? Fighting for a cause has been one of the mainstays of Roland's life, but at what price?

Roland, once a man of laughter, a dutiful son and an examplar soldier, now questions his role in life. Would it be impossible for him to carve his own way into history by not following the examples and principles set by his father and the Legions? After all, the world is large, and able adventurers have begun modestly, and carved kingdoms and fortunes by their wits and with the strenght of their arms. Roland is still young, experienced and ambitious. Perhaps the bards will sing of his accomplishments. Isn't a man's duty to serve himself first, after all?

[b]Skills:[/b]

[b]Major[/b]
[b]One-handed:[/b] Roland is an expert swordsman and duellist, hitting his opponent hard and fast. His bastard sword is like a continuation of his right arm. It feels natural in his hand.
[b]Block:[/b] As a swordsman, Roland likes to use a shield usually, both for defence and offence, to block incoming blows or to bash an opponent’s face with it.

Minor
[b]Heavy armour:[/b] Roland is used to carrying a heavy armour on him, and he isn’t much fatigued by it while walking or marching.
[b]Athletics:[/b] Roland has always been an athletic and a man who likes to stay outside. He endures the hardships of the wilderness better than most people.
[b]Speech:[/b] Roland is accustomed to command and instruct people, and while he doesn’t have a silvered tongue, he can talk his way out of most ordinary incidents.
 

[b]Equipment:[/b]
[b]Armour:[/b] Red gambeson, black mail hauberk, black breastplate, pauldrons and gauntlets, full-helmet ornamented with bird feathers.
[b]Weapons:[/b] A steel bastard sword, a foot-long steel dagger and an oaken shield with a steel rim.
[b]Miscellanous:[/b] Green wool shirt, a brown travelling cloak with a hood, a green cotton tunic, a scarf, a backpack, a flagon, an amulet of Talos.

Other: Roland likes card and board games, especially if Septims are involved. He also enjoys drinking Nord mead and Cyrodiilic brandy. He hates the smell of burning flesh and fat, and is afraid of burning alive.

[/hider]